Arthur Weasley Wasn't Always Sure of Ginny and Harry
by babybasschick96
Summary: Arthur wasn't always sure that Harry and Ginny would work out in the long run. Third Person. One shot. Mild language.


Arthur Weasley's feelings on Harry and Ginny's relationship. Third person. One shot. Tiny bit of language, but nothing that wasn't included in the original books (if I remember correctly).

Thank you for your time!

Arthur Weasley had always been okay with Harry Potter dating his daughter. Not all of the Weasleys had, Molly included, but Arthur had never had an issue with it.

Yes, their had been some paternal jealousy and heartbreak, but Ginny had always been a spitfire who could hold her own against six brothers (and not just any six brothers; she'd held her own against Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ron Weasley) and he'd known that Ginny was going to get involved with someone or other eventually. Arthur was just happy that it had been somebody they'd known and knew would treat her respectfully.

And Arthur did know Harry would treat his daughter respectfully. He knew that Harry would defend her with his life and would respect whatever boundaries she saw fit to place between the two of them. And most importantly, he knew that Harry did his best to make his daughter happy.

But Arthur hadn't always been sure that Harry and Ginny were soul mates or however the kids were terming it now-a-days. He'd seen the way that they looked at one another and the way that Ginny always smiled a little brighter when he was in the room and the way that Harry's fingers in Ginny's hair seemed to calm the both of them. He'd seen the two of them interact and get lost in each other's eyes in a crowded room and he'd seen the way they both seemed to melt into a puddle of giggling mush any time they were taking care of Teddy. But in spite of all of that, Arthur just wasn't _sure_.

At first, he hadn't thought much of it. He'd been unsure of Percy's wife when they'd first been introduced, but after a couple of family get-togethers and spending more time around the happy couple, he'd quickly seen how good of a couple they were and came around to the idea.

He figured the same would happen with Ginny and Harry once he'd adjusted to the two of them being more than simply friendly towards one another, but the more time he spent with the two of them after they'd gotten back together after the war, and the more far fetched that excuse became, the more worried he got. Logically speaking, he _knew_ that Ginny and Harry were good matches for each other. Every sign said that they were. So _why_ couldn't he just accept it and move on with his life?

It had been the Christmas holidays a year and a half after the war that he had finally gotten the reassurance he'd been looking for. Everybody had been gathered round the Burrow just as they had been the year before, but this year things were pointedly better than the last.

The first Christmas after the war had been rough. Every where they turned their were constant reminders of the loved ones that had been lost. All of the ornaments for the tree that Fred had made or given to Molly over the years. The conversation that Andromeda, Molly, and Harry had over who would get Teddy what and where he would be spending his time. The extra pages that had been added to the daily prophet as they had listed all of the names of those had been lost (a true list, now that they had time to fact check).

The memories and reminders were everywhere, not to mention the fact that the ministry and the Order were still working to eradicate the last of Voldemort's supports and bring them to justice.

Not that those things didn't happen at the second Christmas, too; they just weren't so new this time. Everybody had known what to expect; had known that they were going to go through all of these things again and that it was going to be okay.

There were some other things going on that had helped, too. Ginny and Harry being around each other more often (or having more control over when they spent time together and didn't) now that Ginny was out of Hogwarts had helped tremendously with their respective post-traumatic stresses. Ron and Hermione had worked out a lot of the kinks of their relationship as they had adjusted back to normal life. Andromeda was more comfortable around the Weasleys and felt less like she was intruding on their time together. Teddy was toddling around and more interactive than he had been the year before, and his constant smiles and squeals of delight were a source of amusement for everyone.

And of course, the news that Fleur was pregnant had gotten around only a couple of weeks before the holiday and she and Bill were absolutely glowing as everybody else floated by on a cloud of happy anticipation.

All-in-all the Burrow was a much happier place than it had been the year before.

All of those things aside though, Arthur had known going into the week that there were bound to be a couple of fights. That's just how the Weasley siblings were. And Arthur had also known that no matter who it was between, Ginny would probably get involved. That's just how she was. So when Ron and Percy came streaking down the stairs on Christmas Eve with an irate Ginny hot on their heels, he wasn't exactly surprised.

"You absolute arses!" Ginny shrieked. "How dare you go through my things!"

"You're the one who left the bag in the bathroom!" Ron yelled in defense of himself as he ducked into the family room where the people that weren't helping Molly with dinner had convened.

"For two minutes while I went back to my room to grab a towel!" Ginny shrieked back at them.

"Why do you even have those types of things anyway?" Percy cut over top of the two of them.

"It's none of your business, you over-pompous prat!" Ginny whirled on him and Arthur made the decision that it was best that he intervened (or tried to, at least).

"Alright, alright," he called from the kitchen table. "What's going on here?"

"Your two sons went through my bag and dyed half of my clothing green before I could walk in and stop them!"

"Honestly, Ronald?" Hermione gave an annoyed sigh in the background.

"It was a joke!" both Percy and Ron defended themselves.

"Well nobody but the two of you is laughing!" Ginny snapped back at the two of them.

"Oh, come on, sis," Bill rolled his eyes from where he sat by the fire with an arm around fleur. "Don't get your knickers in a twist over nothing."

"That would require her to wear something that could be considered knickers in the first place," Ron snorted in disapproval before he could stop himself. There was a moment of shocked silence throughout the room before Ginny exploded into a round of insults even worse than the first.

Of course, neither of the Weasley boys could let it go either, and pretty soon the entire house was full of the three, yelling and screaming at each other while the rest of the family tried to get them to calm down.

"Arthur!" Molly clutched at his arm as she tried to keep control of all of the magic happening in the kitchen to prepare dinner. "Do something."

"I'm trying," Arthur smoothed a hand over hers and tried not to let the panic he was feeling show because he had no idea what to do.

Typically, when any of the siblings were fighting all it took was a couple of words in a raised tone to get them to stop. Arthur was having no luck with that this time. This was the worst he'd ever seen any of the siblings fight, and Arthur had a sinking feeling in his gut that he wasn't going to be able to stop it before magic came in to play.

Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, Ron was the first one to raise his wand.

Nobody knew what spell he had cast, it had all happened too fast and Ron hadn't really meant to do it either. He'd never been one for nonverbal spells; but of course, the one time he hadn't wanted it to work, it had.

Thankfully, Ginny had always been one of the best duelers of the family and had countered the spell on reflex as she stared at her brother in shock. The entire family (with exception of Fleur) jumped up to separate the two before any real damage was done as Ginny opened her mouth to hex him in return, but suddenly a bright flash of light erupted between Ginny and Ron and everybody was frozen in place as Ginny, Ron, and Percy found themselves free of their wands.

"Harry Potter how dare you!" Ginny turned on her heel to glare at him.

Arthur tried to turn with her, but quickly discovered that he, along with everyone else in the room except Ginny and Harry, could not move.

Harry had stunned them all.

Arthur watched helplessly as Ginny threw insults and berated Harry, hands on her hips and foot to the side, as Harry calmly picked his way around the various frozen bodies in the kitchen to her.

"You have absolutely no right to interfere with what happens between me and my brothers! Nor do you have any right to disarm me! I don't care if you're the chosen one or the minister of magic or the bloody Queen of England! You give me back my wand this instant! I can take care of myself! I fought in the war just the same as you and I can certainly handle my pig-headed brothers trying to stuff me into a-"

What happened next absolutely astounded Arthur. Harry reached out as soon as he was within arms distance and reverently cupped the sides of Ginny's face, down by her jaw, and came to a stop barely a foot or two away. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and Ginny practically melted down into his arms as the rest of whatever she was going to say was lost in a shaky breath.

Arthur had never seen anybody do that before. Nobody had ever calmed Ginny down when she was that mad. Not him, not Molly, not her brothers. And here Harry had done it with one simple touch.

"I know," Harry reassured her quietly as he pulled away and tilted her head back up so they could look at each other. "What happened?"

"I was going to take a bath and get changed before supper, but I forgot a towel in our room. I left my bag in the bathroom while I went back to get it and the next thing I know I come back and they're casting irreversible charms at everything inside and turning it all the most hideous shade of green."

"Which bag was it?" Harry maintained his composure.

"The black one," Ginny answered looking down. "The one with our pajamas and your jeans and—"

"Fred's jumper?" Harry finished her sentence, his muscles visibly tensing and his lips thinning into an unhappy frown.

"Yeah," Ginny nodded her head, closing her eyes to try to fight off the tears. "Fred's jumper."

Now at the time, the conversation hadn't meant a thing to any of the rest of the family that was still watching in their stunned states; but Harry had later explained that Fred had given Ginny the last Weasley sweater that Molly had knitted for him when she'd gone back to Hogwarts during the war to help her feel safe. He hadn't even told George that he had done it. Ginny had held on to it like a life line while she was at Hogwarts (and later on in secret after the Weasleys had gone into hiding).

She'd finally broken down and told Harry about it after he had moved into the Burrow. He'd gotten up go to the bathroom one night and heard her crying quietly inside of her room as he passed by. Harry had gone in to check on her and found her curled up in it and as soon as she'd started talking it was like she couldn't stop.

Ginny had refused to wear it around the house or at Hogwarts her last year or anywhere around people because she didn't want to upset anybody, but she did wear it quite frequently when she and Harry were alone. It helped her feel closer to Fred and safe.

"I'm sorry, Gin," Harry pressed another kiss to her forehead as one of his hands found it's way into her hair and the other wrapped around the small of her back to pull her into a tight hug.

"It's not your fault," Ginny shook her head at him, falling into his arms and letting him rock her back and forth from side to side, gently.

"I know, but I also know how much that jumper meant to you."

"It's just—It's just—I can't replace it. It was all I had left and now it's just gone. It's ruined."

"I know," Harry repeated himself comfortingly. "And I'm sure if Ron or Percy had taken the time to pay attention to more than just your knickers, they would have seen it and never done anything to it in the first place."

"Yeah," Ginny conceded with a sigh. "I guess you're right."

"They didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know," Ginny sounded more confident this time.

"It's not their fault that you're just so incredibly beautiful that the thought of you running around in those skimpy-little knickers of yours sends them into a blind rage."

"That's true," Ginny giggled as Arthur cringed internally. Listening to his daughter have a conversation with her boyfriend about her knickers was not something he had ever wanted to do, but he supposed he would get over it eventually. The two of them were sharing a room when they were both here, after all. But something else was starting to happen to Arthur as he watched the way his daughter smiled, too. "I suppose I can forgive them this time."

"I think you should," Harry encouraged with a small smile of his own.

"Okay," Ginny nodded her head before the two pulled each other into a loving kiss. "Now can you please undo whatever you've done to my family? Bill looks like he's about to have a heart attack trying to get to Fleur."

Arthur hadn't noticed it, but when he looked over in Bill's direction he could see his eldest son's eyes trained on his wife like he was trying to will his way over to her and their were beads of sweat running down his temples.

"If I have to," Harry joked, rolling his eyes and giving an exasperated sigh as he waved his wand once more and the room unfroze.

Bill stumbled forward towards Fleur, who was still sitting in her seat with her arm over her stomach protectively, and Arthur didn't have time to take stock of anybody else as he, himself, stumbled, too, from where he'd been trying to get in between his children. There was a quiet flurry around the room as everybody asked if everybody else was okay, but the focus of the room quickly shifted back to Harry and Ginny and the still frozen Ron in front of them.

Ginny had tucked herself back underneath of Harry's chin, and Harry held her against him tightly as he glared over top of her head at the unmoving form of his best friend and in a deathly calm voice said, "I don't care that she's your sister and I don't care about whatever justification you think you do or do not have. If you raise your wand against her again, I will personally hold you down while she does whatever she likes to you and when she's done I will go back in time and find one of Voldemort's horecruxes and sew it to your spleen for the rest of eternity. Do you understand me?"

Ron didn't need to be able to move to answer him. The fear in his eyes said more than enough.

"Good," Harry nodded his head once before waving his wand again and unfreezing Ron. "Glad that's settled. Come on, Gin. Let's help your mum set the table because you're not going to have time to shower before the roast's done."

"Alright," Ginny agreed easily, pulling herself away from Harry like the last fifteen minutes had never even happened. "But I'll get the silverware. You get the plates."

"That's not fair," Harry pouted as he followed Ginny back into the kitchen, past where Arthur and Molly stood. "The plates are so much heavier than the silverware."

"I know," Ginny grinned over her shoulder at him, and Arthur took the opportunity to study her face. The smile was genuine, Harry had genuinely been able to make her happy, but the sadness still remained in her eyes. It wasn't forgotten completely; just laid down to rest until a later time. "That why I asked you to get them."

"Aren't you supposed to be the world famous athlete here?"

"Aren't _you_ supposed to be the chosen one?"

"Oh, no. I thought it didn't matter if I was the chosen one or the minister of magic or the _bloody queen of England_."

"Oh, shut up, you wanker," Ginny stuck her tongue out at the back of Harry's head as he reached up into the cabinet for the plates, and that was when Arthur realized he finally knew.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, watch your tongue," Molly chastised their youngest as she surged back into the kitchen to pick back up where she'd left on dinner. Arthur knew that he should get up and help them but he couldn't force himself out of his chair.

He'd finally found whatever it was he'd been looking for between the two of them. Harry Potter was the one that was meant to accompany his daughter through the remainder of her life. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they were supposed to fall farther in love and get married one day and take care of Teddy together and have kids of their own one day and grow old and all of those wonderful things that people were supposed to do.

They were meant for each other.

Arthur was sure of it.


End file.
